First tranche of £10m equity investment

RNS Number : 1286D

Oncimmune Holdings PLC

29 January 2018

 

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014. Upon the publication of this announcement via the Regulatory Information Service, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

Oncimmune Holdings plc

("Oncimmune" or the "Company")

Oncimmune completes first tranche of £10m equity investment from Genostics

Nottingham, UK - 29 January 2018: Oncimmune Holdings plc (AIM: ONC.L), a leading early cancer detection company developing and commercialising its proprietary EarlyCDT® liquid biopsy platform technology, today announces that it has entered into the licence agreement and completed on the £7m equity subscription with Genostics Company Limited ("Genostics"). This is the first tranche of a total £10m equity investment in Oncimmune which was agreed as part of a license, distribution, manufacturing and future development agreement for all products related to Oncimmune's EarlyCDT® platform for the People's Republic of China announced on 2 January 2018.

As approved at the General Meeting held on 22 January, Genostics is investing £10m in Oncimmune by way of subscription for 6,410,256 new ordinary shares at a price of £1.56 per ordinary share, a 49% premium to the share price of 105p at market close on 29 December 2017 ("Genostics Subscription"). The second tranche of £3m will be paid by 30 March 2018. An application has been made for the 4,487,179 Ordinary Shares under this first subscription to be admitted to trading on AIM ("Admission") and this is expected to happen on 2 February 2018.

Under the terms of the licence, Oncimmune will receive a royalty of 8% to 12.5% on the gross revenue subject to aggregate minimum royalty payments over the first six years post market entry of £15.7 million and £5 million (index linked) per year thereafter. Genostics will start to sell EarlyCDT®-Lung within 36 months of the date of the agreement, subject to China FDA approval, although both parties expect this to be sooner. 

As part of the agreement with Genostics, GeneTech(Shanghai), a subsidiary of GGH, will be responsible for the manufacturing, marketing and distribution of EarlyCDT®-Lung. In addition to this and in collaboration with Oncimmune, a potential to transfer of manufacturing to China for that market and the rest of the world will be explored, as well as research and development to progress the Oncimmune EarlyCDT® platform technology into new areas of prevalent cancers. It has also been agreed that a representative from Genostics will be appointed to the Board of Directors of Oncimmune. An announcement will be made once this is finalised.

Cancer in China

In China, early diagnosis has the potential to make a significant impact as mortality increases sharply with advanced disease. 

·      Cancer is the leading cause of death in China and is a major public health problem with incidence increasing

·      It is estimated that there are more than 7,500 cancer deaths per day in China; and there were 4.3 million new cancer cases and more than 2.8 million cancer deaths in China in 2015

·      Lung cancer remains the #1 killer in China of both men and women

·      Over 700,000 new cases of lung cancer diagnosed annually

o  2015: new cases 733,000 - Mortality 610,000

·      Approximately 350 million adults were current smokers in 2015

(Different sources: Chinese Journal of Cancer 2016 and Cancer Statistics in China, 2015)

For further information:

Oncimmune Holdings plc

Geoffrey Hamilton-Fairley, Chief Executive Officer

[e-mail]

Zeus Capital Limited (Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker)

Giles Balleny, Hugh Kingsmill Moore

[phone]

Bryan, Garnier & Co Limited (Joint Broker)

Phil Walker, Dominic Wilson

[phone]

Berenberg (Joint Broker)

Toby Flaux, Charlotte Sutcliffe

[phone]

Media enquiries:

Consilium Strategic Communications

Chris Gardner, Matthew Neal, Lindsey Neville

[e-mail]

[phone]

About Oncimmune

Oncimmune is a leading early cancer detection company developing and commercialising its proprietary EarlyCDT® platform technology. Oncimmune has pioneered the development of autoantibody tests that can detect cancer up to four years earlier than other methods and can be applied to a very wide range of solid tumour types. The Company's first product, EarlyCDT®-Lung, was launched in 2012, as a CLIA test in the USA and since then over 150,000 commercial tests have been sold. EarlyCDT®-Lung is available through physicians in the US and also privately in the UK and other regions. EarlyCDT®-Lung is being used in the largest ever randomised trial for the early detection of lung cancer using biomarkers, the National Health Service (NHS) Scotland ECLS study of 12,210 high-risk smokers. EarlyCDT® tests for liver and ovarian cancer are in development.

Oncimmune, headquartered in Nottingham, United Kingdom with testing facilities in the US, joined AIM in May 2016 under the ticker ONC.L. For more information, visit www.oncimmune.com

About Genostics Co. Ltd

Genostics Co. Ltd is one of the subsidiaries of Gene Group Holding Ltd. (GGH). GGH was founded in 1992 and currently has 18 offices across China and over 650 employees. Subsidiaries includes GeneTech(Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Gene Co. Limited, eBiotrade and Ecotek Co. Ltd.. GGH has approximately 20 years of experience in R&D, manufacturing, marketing and distribution of immunological and molecular diagnostic products in the fields of oncology, pathology, hematology and cytogenetics, GeneTech(Shanghai) Co. Ltd. has a CFDA certified cGMP manufacturing facility and has ISO9001 and ISO 13485 accreditation. GeneTech(Shanghai) Co. Ltd. is focused on developing a range of molecular and companion diagnostic products to use in the precision diagnosis and medicine.

 

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